A city in China's far-western Xinjiang region has ordered people who are "poisoned by extremism, terrorism and separatism," in contact with overseas terror groups or act in a conservative Islamic manner, to turn themselves in to authorities.
Those who surrender to judicial organs within 30 ...

Tens of thousands of pilgrims thronged one of Hinduism's holiest temples in southern India on Saturday as it reopened amid high security, but women aged between 10 and 50 were absent despite a court order allowing them to enter.
Hindu activists, meanwhile, imposed a strike ...

A United Nations committee on Friday endorsed a resolution turning up the heat on Myanmar over the persecution of its Rohingya Muslim minority.
The measure, pushed by the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to the U.N. General Assembly's Third Committee charged with ...

A bishop who has resisted demands to join China's Communist Party-controlled church body has been taken into custody, a Catholic news service reported, despite recent moves by Beijing and the Holy See toward reconciliation.
Asia News reported that Peter Shao Zhumin dropped out of sight ...

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence criticized Myanmar's military over the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in a meeting with national leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday and said those responsible should be held accountable.
"The violence and persecution by military and vigilantes that resulted in ...

A new standoff between Hindu traditionalists and Indian police over a flash point shrine is looming in the coming week, with 560 women reportedly registering to visit the side when it reopens next Saturday.
India's Supreme Court in September ruled that all females should be ...

Martha Kande's family lived with her graying, shriveled corpse at their home in Indonesia for seven months as they prepared an elaborate funeral that is central to the Toraja people's centuries-old death rituals.
"We keep the body in a coffin at home," said Meyske Latuihamallo, ...

A day after Republicans expanded their Senate majority, the Trump administration on Wednesday finalized a policy change that allows some employers with religious or moral objections to opt out of providing no-cost birth control for female workers.
The new regulations from several federal agencies apply ...

A onetime Somali refugee and the daughter of Palestinian immigrants shared the historic distinction Tuesday of becoming the first two Muslim women elected to U.S. Congress.
Both women — Ilhan Omar, 37, and Rashida Tlaib, 42 — are Democrats from the Midwest and outspoken advocates ...

The northern Indian city of Ayodhya broke a Guinness World Record on Tuesday by lighting 300,150 earthen lamps and keeping them burning for at least 45 minutes on the banks of the river Saryu as part of the annual celebration of Diwali, the Hindu ...

Bahrain's appeals court sentenced the head of the country's Shiite opposition movement to jail for life Sunday over charges of spying for rival Persian Gulf state Qatar, a judicial source said.
Sheikh Ali Salman, who headed the now-outlawed Al-Wefaq movement, had been acquitted by the ...

Prominent Pakistani cleric Maulana Samiul Haq, known as the "father of the Taliban," was killed in a knife attack at his home in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Friday, his family and police said.
Haq's son, Hamidul Haq, said his father was alone in ...